I have given up trying to second guess Arsene Wenger, well that is not strictly true – but the Arsenal manager does keep proving me wrong. And the fact is that, no matter how much us fans may question his selection policy and think that certain players in the Arsenal squad are not getting the opportunity they deserve, it is Wenger who has to live or die with his choices, and he sees much more of the players than we do.
Having said that, Lukas Podolski put Wenger’s reluctance to play him under serious doubt and his last minute burst and goal proved the German’s fitness over 90 minutes. Hopefully the German striker has proved his point, but it is our other rarely used front man Joel Campbell that I am thinking about today.
Talking to other Arsenal fans, there is no clear consensus on the young striker today. He was wasteful at times and yet he showed glimpses of real class. The TV pundits last night said that any player with so little time on the pitch was going to be rusty and I can accept that. Campbell also seemed to be trying too hard to do something to catch the eye and football is a team sport at the end of the day.
So I can understand why Wenger is not giving him as much game time as he would like, but then how else is Campbell to progress? I really think that a loan deal to a Premier League side that will play him is the best option and I think we could have a real star on our hands, as long as Wenger handles him correctly.
What do you lot think of the Campbell conundrum?